I just read on Everyblock that the Hancock Fabrics on the far north side of Chicago has signs up in its windows that they are closing.

I think that leaves JoAnn's as the last fabric store on the north side of the city. (of course, there is Vogue in Evanston near by.)

It wasn't a great fabric store but the staff was nice and the manager really tried (against the tide of upper management, it must be said) to stock things customers wanted rather than miles and miles of cheap fleece.

I wonder if the entire chain is going or if it is just an isolated incident. Anyone know?

------I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine... Most of the pleasure is in getting that last little piece perfect...Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just keep showing up and doing the work.

I agree with you about the "upper management". I have written my share of letters to headquarters. I don't know how our store is holding on. Instead of closing their stores, Hancocks needs to re-purpose. The store doesn't need furniture, paintings and "as seen on TV" stuff. The building mine is in, is a dump and way to big. The managers, when we get a good one, are worked to death and left with very little help.

The last letter I wrote to corporate, I got an answer back when the DM called me. We talked for over 30 minutes and she promised I was going to see a "whole new store". Well that's been many months ago and the only difference is some of the displays have been moved around. The notions are still half empty. They go through managers like I go through chocolate

In my last letter, I told corporate that this was not a store level problem, it starts and ends at corporate. Lo and behold, the letter got back to store level. They already know me in that store, but this letter did nothing more than put pressure on those who were already over worked. Makes me so mad!

Several years ago, I actually called corporate and talked with a man there. He said his DM's were his eyes and ears, where his stores are concerned. I then told him, "Our DM has not been in this store in over a year". The DM at the time was having a lot of personal problems(he already knew about it). I told this man, "these store are your paycheck, a number of them have already closed. Do you not want to continue receiving your paycheck"? Within a few weeks, a new DM was appointed for our area. Hancock corporate has a lot of issues.

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